


\ 



<i/ 



Ill li 11 ill 11 11 HI I 
014 077 689 



Conservation Resources 
Lig-Free® Type I 
Ph 8.5, Buffered 



HK^.Cb 



PLAGES OF HISTORICAL INTEREST 



WITHIX THE LIMITS OF 



U 



OuLD Newbury." 



PRINTED FOR 

THE CITY IMPROVEMENT SOCIETY, 

OF 

NEWHURYPORT. 
1897. 



cy 



SPECIAL NOTICE. 



The Street Railway will take visitors to most of the places 
named in the accompanying list, but in order to reach the points 
of interest mentioned on pages 7 and 8 — beginning with the 
burying ground at Sawyer's Hill and ending with the Byfield 
Elm — a private conveyance will be needed. 



Publ. 
4 ,'01 



OLD HOUSES AND NOTABLE PLACES. 



Parker River and Lower Green, nbout four miles from 
Boston & Maine Railroad station, on the line of the Newbury- 
port & Amesbury Street Railway. The first settlers of New- 
bury landed on the north shore of this river, in 1635, and erected 
tlie first meeting house in the immediate vicinity of the green. 
The first burying ground is only a few rods distant from tlie 
travelled highway and, at the present time, is surrounded by a 
cultivated field. Previous to 1650 a ferry was established over 
the river to the " great neck." In 1758 a bridge was built, at 
the old ferry place, under the supervision of Mr. Ralph Cross, 
with funds raised by lottery authorized by the General Court. 

The Spencer Pierce House, stands on the farm lot, of four 
hundred acres, laid out to John Spencer in 1635. It was proba- 
bly erected by Daniel Pierce about the year 1670. 

" Travneing Green" laid out when the settlers of the old 
town removed to the new to\vn of Newbury in i^>45. On the 
high land on the easterly side of the green, a detachment of 
troops under the command of Col. Benedict Arnold encamped 
September 15th to 19th, inclusive, on their way to join the expe- 
dition for the capture of Qiiebec. 

The Noves House on Parker Street Iniilt about the year 



1646 by Rev. James Noyes, associate pastor with Rev. Thomas 
Parker. 

The Oi.d Elm of Newbury in front of the residence of Mr. 
William Jaques, Parker street. The subject of a poem by Miss 
Hannah F. Gould. 

The Coffin House, owned and occupied by Tristram 
Coffin, jr. in 165-5, ^"<^ afterward the residence of Joshua Coffin 
the historian of Newbury. It has remained in the possession of 
the descendants of Tristram Coffin to the present time. 

The Burying Ground of the First Parish, nearly op- 
posite the Coffin house. In this grave yard many of the first 
settlers of Newbury were buried including Henry Sewell, father 
of Chief Justice Sewell. 

The Ilsley House. The southwesterly end of this house 
was probably built by Stephen Swett about the year 1670; the 
north-easterly end by Daniel Clark in 1756. Oliver Putnam, 
senior, kept tavern here from 1783 to 1797. 

House No 6^ High Street, owned and occupied by Hon. 
Caleb Cushing at the time of his death. 

First Presbyterian Meeting House on Federal Street, 
erected in 1756, remodelled in 1829 and rebuilt in 1856. Here 
preached Rev. George Whitefield, the revivalist, Rev. Joseph 
Prince, a clergyman blind from early boyhood, and Rev. Jona- 
than Parsons at whose call for volunteers, tradition relates, a 
company was raised, in the broad aisle, to serve in the Revolution. 
Sunday, September 17, 1775, a portion of the troops enlisted for 
the expedition to Qjiebec under Col. Benedict Arnold attended 
public worship here. In a vault under the pulpit Whitefield, 
Prince and Parsons are buried. 

No. ^ School Street. Tlie house in which William Lloyd 
Garrison was born. 



No. II School Street. The house in which Rev. George 
Whitefield died. 

Sea Wall and Flat Ikon Point, between Bromfield street 
and Ocean Avenue affording a fine view of the harbor. 

Plum Island at the nioutli of the Merrimac river. This 
island extends in a south-easterly direction for nearly nine miles. 
During the summer months horse cars run regularly, for the tran- 
sportation of visitors to and from Market square, to the beach 
which has been the scene of frequent shipwrecks. The most 
memorable one is described by Celia Thaxter in a poem entitled 
" The Wreck of the Pocahontas." ' 

BOMIJSHELL at THE CoKNER OF INDEPENDENT AND MiDDLE 

Streets, brought from Louisburg by Nathaniel Knapp after 
the capture of that fortress in 175S. 

Market Square. On the south-easterly side near the pres- 
ent location of the Ocean National Bank stood the house owned 
bv William Morse at the time of the witchcraft delusion in 
1679. His wife Elizabeth was sentenced to be hanged as a 
witch, but was reprieved and afterwards released. The Meet- 
ing House of the Third Parish in Newbury, Rev. John Lowell, 
pastor, formerly oecupied the centre of the square. In iSoi 
a new building was erected on Pleasant street to which the 
society removed, and the land under and adjoining the old meet- 
ing house was purchased and laid out as a market place for the 
use and convenience of dealers in hay, grain and other products 
of the farm and dairy. 

Newiu'rvport Marine Society, organized in 1772, incor- 
porated in 1777. Visitors are admitted to the hall of the society 
from ten to twelve and from two to four o'clock, daily, Sundays 
excepted. 

Site of the Old Wolfe Ta\"ern, corner of Threadneedle 
Alley and State street. 



No. 2 1 Charter Street, for many years the residence of 
Miss Hannah F. Gould, who was the author of several volumes 
of prose sketches and poems. 

No. lo Temple Street. Dwelling house formerly owned 
and occupied by Rev. John Lowell. Removed from State street 
to its present location in the year i77^* 

Public Library Building, erected by Patrick Tracy in 1771 
as a residence for his son Nathaniel Tracy. Washington occu- 
pied apartments in this house on the occasion of his visit to 
Newburyport in 1789? 'ind General Lafayette was entertained 
there in August 1S34. In the year 1865 it was purchased for the 
use of the Public Library. The building was remodelled at that 
time, and in 1882 enlarged, bv the addition of the Simpson annex 
for the accommodation of the free public reading room which was 
established and has since been maintained by the liberality of 
William C. Todd, Esq. The rooms of the Historical Society 
of " Ould Newbury" are on the hrst floor of the main building. 
They are open to inspection on week daj's from nine o'clock a. 
m. to one o'clock p. m. and from two to five p. m. A small 
collection of books, maps, manuscripts, portraits and other relics 
of the olden times can be seen there. 

Dalton House, built by Michael Dalton about the year i 750. 
After his death it was occupied by his son Tristram Dalton who 
was the first Senator to Congress from Massachusetts after the 
adoption of the Constitution of the United States. The house 
with the land under and adjoining the same was sold in 1791 to 
Moses Brown, Esq., who lived there for many years. 

Oak Hill Cemetery, consecrated July 21, 1842. En- 
trance from State street opposite Greenleaf street. 

New Hill Burying Ground on Pond and Hill streets. This 
lot of land was purchased by the town of Newburyport for a 
burial place in the year 1800, but several persons were buried 



7 

nc;ir the northeasterly corner of the lot previous to 1735. The 
graves of Caleb dishing and Hannah F. Gould arc near the 
summit of the hill. 

Old IIili, Burvixg Ground. Within this enclosure many 
who were once prominent in the social, political or professional 
life of Newbury are buried. On the head-stones tliat mark their 
graves are many quaint inscriptions. 

Frog Pond and Bartlet Mall. This pond was in exist- 
ence previous to the settlement of Newbury in 1635 and is men- 
ioned in the earliest grants of land made when tlie new town 
was laid out in 1645. The broad promenade on the easterly 
side of the pond was constructed in 1800, through the exertions 
and liberality of Capt. Edmund Bartlet. The Court House 
stands on this Mall and the Newburyport High and Putnam 
Free School building is nearly opposite. The statue of Wash- 
ington, by J. Q_. A. W^ard, presented to the city by Daniel I. 
Tenney of New York, is at the easterly end of the ]Mall. 

House No. 34 Greex Street, built by Hon. Theophilus 
Parsons in 1789, and owned and occupied by him until his re- 
moval to Boston in the year 1800. 

Meeting-house of the First Religious (Unitarian) Society, 
on Pleasant street. Built in 1800. A good specimen of church 
architecture with fine interior. Square pews and high pulpit. 

Brown Sq^uare, laid out by Moses Brown, Esq., and made 
free to the public in 1S02. The statue in the centre of the 
square was presented to the city of Newburyport July 4, 1893, 
by William H. Swasey, Esq. 

St. Paul's Church. The first building, erected on this site 
in 1738, was taken down in the year 1800 to give place to the 
present edifice. Right Rev. Edward Bass, D. D., was at that 
time rector of the church. He was also Bishop of the Diocese of 
Massachusetts and Rhode Island. 



8 

Dexter House, built by Hon. Jonathin Jackson in ^'J'J^. 
Purchased by Timothy Dexter in 179S and occupied by him un- 
til his death, Oct. 26, iSo5. 

Lowell- Johnson House, built by John Lowell, an eminent 
lawyer, afterward Judge of the United States Circuit Court, and 
father of Francis Cabot Lowell for whom the city of Lowell 
was named; grandfather of John Lowell who founded the Low- 
ell Institute in Boston, and also grandfather of James Russell 
Lowell, the poet, and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of 
St. James. The house was sold to Patrick Tracy in 1778 and 
occupied by his son, John Tracy, for many years. In 17S3 the 
Marquis de Chastellux and other officers of the French Army 
were entertained there. 

No. 244 High Street. At this house John G. Whittier was 
a frequent visitor during the last years of his life. 

The Toppan House, No. 10 Toppan street. This house was 
built, in 1670, by Jacob Toppan who married Hannah Sewall, 
sister of Chief Justice Sewall. 

House No. 256 High Street, owned and occupied b}- James 
Parton at the time of his death. 

House No. 265 High Street, built on land granted to Ed- 
mund Rawson in 1638, by the town of Newbury, and sold to 
William Pillsbury in 1651. The house formerly standing on this 
land was destroyed by fire a few years ago and the present build- 
ing was erected by the Misses Emily A. and Ellen P. Getchell, 
grand-daughters of Joshua Pillsbury. 

Old Ship Yards on Merrimac street, extending from Merri- 
mac court to Ashland street. 

Ferry Landing at the foot of Jefferson street, opposite Carr's 
island. For nearly a century and a half trav^ellers on the way to 



SHlisbuiy and the eastern frontier crossed the Merrimac river 
at this point in a ferry established by George Carr in 1644. 

Essex Mekrimac Bkidge and Deer Island. The first 
bridge connecting Newburyport with this island was erected in 
in 1792 from designs furnished by Timothy Pahiier. It was re- 
placed in iSio by a chain suspension bridge, and, in consequence 
of a serious accident, again remodeled in 1826. The island is 
an attractive and picturesque spot, with one dwelling house 
thereon, owned and occupied by Mrs. Harriet Prescott Spofibrd. 

Ferry Road leading TO Laurel Hill. Laid out in 1668 
for the accommodation of travel between Newbury and Salisbury, 
now Amesbury. 

Church Yard of Queen Ann's Chapel, now* Belleville 
Cemetery. Within this enclosure the first founders of the 
Episcopal church in Newbury are buried. 

The Burying Ground at Sawyer's Hill, probably laid 
out soon after the organization of the Second Parish in New- 
bury in 1695. Rev. Moses Hale, one of the first ministers in 
that parish, and Col. Moses Little, who commanded a regi- 
ment at the battle of Bunker Hill and afterward served under 
Washington at Long Island Harlem Heights, are buried in this 
enclosure. 

The Sawyer House on the road to Curson's Mill. One 
of the best specimens of early New England style of architec- 
ture to be found in " Quid Newbury." 

Mill at the Mouth of Artichoke River. Built upon 
land granted John Emery, junior, in 1679, " provided that he 
build a corne mill to grind the towne's corne". A picturesque 
spot much in favor with artists. 

Birthplace of Cornelius Conway Felton, President of 
Harvard College, near Brown Springs, on the Bradford road. 
The house was taken down some years ago; only the cellar 
walls now visible. 



lO 

Pipe Stave Hill, the summer residence of Hon. Tristram 
Dalton, while Senator to Congress from Massachusetts. 

Indian Hill, sold by great Tom, Indian, to the town of New- 
bury in 1650. In 1 710 conveyed to Samuel Poore, and after- 
ward the property of his lineal descendant, Ben : Perley Poore, 
Esq. 

Turkey Hill, two miles from the Boston & Maine Railroad 
station in Newburyport. On the south-easterly side of this hill 
formerly stood the house owned by John Brown at the time of 
the Indian depredations in 1695. On the northerly side near the 
travelled highway is the residence built and occupied by Col. 
Moses Little in 1748. 

Thorlay's Bridge over the river Parker. First built by 

Richard Thorlay previous to 1654; afterwards repaired at the 

public expense and maintained as a free bridge to the present 
time. 

DuMMER Academy, established in 1763 by Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor William Dummer. Incorporated in 1783. 

Old Mansion House, near Dummer Academy, built about 
the vear 1712 as a summer residence for Lieut. -Gov. Dummer. 

Old Parsonage House, Byfield. The birth-place of Eben 
Parsons, the owner of Fatherland Farm, and his brother, The- 
ophilus Parsons, Chief Justice of Massachusetts. 

Fatherland Farm, formerly owned by Richard Dummer. 
Afterwards the property of Eben Parsons who built in 1S02 the 
house now standing there. 

The Longfellow Estate at Newbury Falls, for many years 
in the possession of William Longfellow, the paternal ancestor 
of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the distinguished poet. 

The Byfield Elm, at the homestead of Mr. Benjamin Pear- 
son, about one-third of a mile from the Boston & Maine Rail- 
road station at Bvfield. 



NOV 22 1900 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 



014 077 689 



014 077 689 



Conservation Resources 
Lig-Free® Type I 
Ph 8.5, Buffered 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 





014 077 689 



